Wandsworth local authority children’s services

Inspection of Wandsworth local authority children’s services

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Lead inspector: Monique Lindsay, His Majesty’s Inspector

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Judgement Grade

The impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families Outstanding

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Judgement Grade

The experiences and progress of children who need help and protection Outstanding

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Judgement Grade

The experiences and progress of children in care Outstanding

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Judgement Grade

The experiences and progress of care leavers Outstanding

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Judgement Grade

Children in Wandsworth benefit from highly responsive and compassionate social work that is firmly centred on their individual experiences. Highly skilled practitioners know children well and place a strong emphasis on developing trusting and enduring relationships with them and their families.

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Judgement Grade

Since the previous inspection in 2022, when services were judged to be good overall, senior leaders have steadfastly built on these solid foundations and continued to strengthen practice so that children and care leavers receive consistently high-quality support. Family-based decision-making, children and families receiving help at the right time to prevent needs escalating and reducing the number of moves between services that families experience are principles that are well embedded in practice. A firmly-established culture of reflection, learning and professional curiosity helps practitioners to continually deepen their understanding of children’s circumstances and to respond effectively to their changing needs. Leaders maintain a clear and accurate understanding of practice through effective performance oversight and quality assurance activity, which they use intelligently to progress ongoing improvement. Together, strong leadership, purposeful partnership working and a

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Judgement Grade

committed workforce ensure that children and care-experienced young people have Inspection of Wandsworth local authority children’s services 2 to 6 March 2026 services that promote their safety, stability and wellbeing and support them to make meaningful and sustained progress.

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What needs to improve? 1

◼ The consistency with which permanence plans are clearly recorded so that plans for achieving stability provide clarity and are well understood by children. (outcome 4, national framework)

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protection: outstanding

1. Children and families who require help and protection receive a highly responsive service. Early help arrangements are comprehensive and support children and families at the earliest opportunity. Thresholds for providing different levels of support to children and their families are comprehensively understood and applied consistently across the partnership, ensuring that children receive the right help at the right time. As a result, many children and families benefit from purposeful support that prevents difficulties from escalating and reduces the need for statutory intervention.

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protection: outstanding

2. Strong and well-established multi-agency information-sharing enables partner agencies to build a clear understanding of children’s circumstances and make well-informed decisions. This coordinated response ensures that children receive the help they need quickly and experience meaningful improvements in their wellbeing.

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protection: outstanding

3. Leaders know the very diverse community they serve well and have identified that children from global majority backgrounds are disproportionately represented across the service. As a result, stringent scrutiny through practice assurance activity, management oversight and consideration of children’s individual identities is undertaken. This ensures that gender, faith, cultural identity and disability are fully considered and inform assessment, decision- making and service provision right from the first point that a referral is made about a child.

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protection: outstanding

4. The multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH) operates effectively and is central to the local authority’s safeguarding arrangements for children. Contacts and referrals about children are reviewed promptly by experienced practitioners who apply professional judgement and analyse risks to children clearly. Decisions are supported by clear management oversight and effective multi-agency collaboration. The views of children and their parents or carers are clearly established and recorded and revisited throughout involvement. This reflects a

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protection: outstanding

1 The areas for improvement have been cross-referenced with the outcomes, enablers or principles in the Children’s Social Care: National Framework . This statutory guidance sets out the purpose, principles for practice and expected outcomes of children’s social care. Inspection of Wandsworth local authority children’s services 2 to 6 March 2026 relational model of practice that prioritises the family voice and working in partnership. Practitioners carefully consider family histories and patterns of concern, ensuring that emerging risks to children are recognised quickly.

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protection: outstanding

5. Children at risk of, or experiencing, harm are considered through timely, well- attended multi-agency child protection strategy discussions and enquiries. These enquiries provide valuable information that supports robust analysis and decision-making, ensuring that concerns are explored fully and decisive action is taken to safeguard children. Partner agencies are well represented at initial child protection conferences, which enables well-informed and in-depth discussions about children’s safety and circumstances. Risk is identified and analysed, leading to clear plans that are well matched to children’s needs and circumstances.

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protection: outstanding

6. Management oversight of decision-making in the MASH is consistent and robust, with agreed priorities and actions tracked. Interviews with parents are detailed and are respectfully and empathetically captured, with appropriate consideration of support already in place. The availability of a specialist domestic abuse worker is a strength of the service, and consequently children benefit from early identification of risk and well-informed safeguarding decisions.

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protection: outstanding

7. The well-established emergency duty team responds effectively when concerns about children arise out of office hours. Children and families receive a proportionate and prompt response when there are safeguarding concerns, with timely handovers to daytime services. Practitioners have access to innovative, well-resourced accommodation, which they call ‘crash pads’, for homeless children aged 16 or 17 outside of office hours, which means children can access safe accommodation when needed.

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protection: outstanding

8. Practitioners demonstrate professional curiosity when reviewing repeat referrals about concerns for children. Historical concerns are fully analysed alongside current information so that patterns of need and risk are clearly understood. This reflective approach helps to ensure that referrals about children are not closed prematurely and that potential safeguarding risks are thoroughly explored before decisions are made.

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protection: outstanding

9. Children requiring statutory assessment, because they may be in need or at risk of significant harm, are supported by social workers completing thorough and analytical child and family assessments that are written to the child. Social workers achieve meaningful engagement with children with the use of purposeful and sensitive direct-work tools that enable children to share their wishes and feelings. Children’s voices are clearly recorded and influence planning and decision-making, so that services are genuinely responsive to children’s needs and experiences.

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protection: outstanding

10. Children in need of specialist support receive this promptly. Social workers do not wait for assessments to be concluded before providing support for needs Inspection of Wandsworth local authority children’s services 2 to 6 March 2026 that are already known about. Specialist workers and a family therapist advise and guide practitioners to explore the multifaceted elements of families. Referrals to specialist services are prioritised and result in families receiving help without delay. This proactive approach helps reduce risk and strengthens support networks around children.

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protection: outstanding

11. Decisions to make children the subject of child in need or child protection plans are appropriate, with timely escalation when plans are not having the desired effect. Child-centred child in need and child protection plans are well structured and written in clear language that is understood by families. Children benefit from plans that focus on improving their daily experiences and identify specific actions for professionals and family members. Managers provide substantial oversight to ensure that plans remain focused and that progress is reviewed regularly.

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protection: outstanding

12. A continued focus on strengthening practice around neglect means that children’s needs are now identified earlier, enabling them to receive effective support at the right time. This improved responsiveness ensures that children experience better outcomes and greater safety.

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protection: outstanding

13. Practitioners demonstrate persistence and commitment when working with children and families. Social workers visit children regularly and are tenacious in building relationships with them and their families. The impact of difference is well considered by practitioners, including ethnicity, additional needs and the power differentials between families and professionals. Family-led solutions are actively pursued, engaging families and family networks in timely family group conferences and family meetings at all stages of children’s social care involvement. Family meetings utilise the strengths of families effectively, and children benefit from family solutions that are meaningful and sustainable.

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protection: outstanding

14. Arrangements to oversee and track the progress of children subject to care proceedings, and the pre-proceedings stage of the Public Law Outline (PLO), are effective. Decisions to step out of PLO or step up to proceedings are well considered and balanced. Timeliness in pre-proceedings and court proceedings is a strong and improving picture, with reduced timescales for children whose situations mean that they need to be the subject of care proceedings. PLO letters are consistently clear to families about both concerns and strengths, so they are helped to understand what needs to change.

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protection: outstanding

15. Children aged 16 or 17 who present as homeless receive an improved and mostly appropriate and responsive service. Children are accommodated quickly when their needs require it, and there is a strong focus on planning with them. Children are spoken to about their rights and entitlements, to help them understand the support available to them so they can make informed decisions about their care and accommodation. These children benefit from improved safety and stability. Inspection of Wandsworth local authority children’s services 2 to 6 March 2026 16. The local authority designated officer (LADO) response, when there are concerns about adults in positions of responsibility for children, has significantly improved since the previous inspection in 2022. An experienced practitioner provides oversight and professional challenge, ensuring that allegations against professionals working with children are appropriately managed. Local

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protection: outstanding

safeguarding intelligence and training needs for potential referrers are supported by an excellent tracking system, enabling the LADO and service manager to monitor trends and risks. This strengthens safeguarding practice and helps prevent future harm to children.

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protection: outstanding

17. Children who go missing are actively supported by practitioners who are professionally curious. They seek to identify children’s push and pull factors to identify risk and address the influences on children’s behaviours, and consider how to reduce the likelihood of them going missing. When there are concerns that children may be at risk of exploitation, safeguarding risks present outside the family home are detailed in children’s assessments, so their needs are considered holistically. Practitioners hold confident and honest conversations with parents, often navigating resistance, and maintaining a steadfast focus on the child’s safety. The Multi-Agency Risk Vulnerability Exploitation panel is used extensively for children when there are escalating concerns of exploitation, and professionals from relevant agencies feed into the planning and intervention with the child.

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protection: outstanding

18. Wandsworth’s edge of care service is a well-established team of professionals who are highly skilled and work in a relational manner. Tenacious communication, alongside intervention, aids children and families at a critical point, helping to stabilise fractured family relationships and prevent children from needing to enter care, when it is safe and in their best interests.

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protection: outstanding

19. Disabled children receive thoughtful and coordinated support. Their needs are well understood and responded to with a multi-agency response. Practitioners demonstrate strong communication skills and use a range of tools to understand children’s experiences, particularly when children are not verbal. Multi-agency involvement ensures that children’s health, education and social needs are addressed holistically.

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protection: outstanding

20. Children with caring responsibilities are identified and supported by the Young Carers Team, which provides a coordinated and increasingly responsive service for children. Young carers’ voices are used to shape the offer and ensure that the work of the project is meaningful, and that children’s needs are recognised, understood and supported.

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protection: outstanding

21. Children who are subject to private fostering arrangements are assessed in a timely way, with their wishes and feelings about their current living arrangements being gathered. While safeguarding checks are sought, a small number are not always completed before managers sign off private fostering assessments, and until received, the suitability of these arrangements is not fully understood. Awareness-raising sessions take place with multi-agency Inspection of Wandsworth local authority children’s services 2 to 6 March 2026 partners about what constitutes a private fostering arrangement, and leaders are rightly well sighted on awareness-raising within communities.

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protection: outstanding

22. Children who are missing education are comprehensively tracked by leaders to monitor their progress. Very high numbers of children arrive in Wandsworth, and leaders understand the importance of ensuring swift access to a suitable school place. Few children are out of school for a long time and, when they are, staff know and talk confidently about how they are supporting this group of children. There is a determination to get children back into the most appropriate provision and re-engage with education when possible. The number of children who are electively home educated is rising in Wandsworth, reflecting a national trend. Leaders work effectively, and with clear processes, to safeguard children.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

23. Children who are looked after receive an outstanding service from practitioners who know them extremely well and are ambitious for them. Children in care are making very significant progress from the point at which they become looked after. Children benefit from inspirational relationships with practitioners who are invested in supporting them and helping them to progress. Children are visited at the frequency required to understand their needs and build great relationships with practitioners who advocate strongly on their behalf. Practitioners demonstrate a strong understanding of trauma-informed practice and communicate with children in ways that help them understand their experiences and care journeys.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

24. Decision-making when children come into care is based on careful consideration of information about need and risk. When it becomes clear that children cannot remain safely within their families, decisions are made promptly. Senior leaders provide strong oversight of these decisions, ensuring that children’s safety and wellbeing remain the central focus.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

25. Children who are looked after are helped by a highly thoughtful and tailored response to their safeguarding needs. Safeguarding arrangements for children in care are robust, with child protection enquiries swiftly undertaken. There is distinct professional curiosity around criminal and sexual exploitation, and oversight of children who are assessed to be at high risk of harm is maintained at a senior level. Responses to children in care who go missing are robust. Child protection strategy discussions are held when missing episodes are frequent or prolonged, to ensure that all professionals involved, including carers, work together to promote children’s safety.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

26. Care planning is comprehensive and focused on achieving long-term stability for children. Individualised and regularly reviewed plans clearly outline the support required to meet children’s emotional, educational and health needs. Children’s views are actively sought and represented, and many children attend their reviews and contribute to their plans. Independent reviewing officers provide Inspection of Wandsworth local authority children’s services 2 to 6 March 2026 effective oversight through well-structured review meetings that monitor children’s progress well and challenge delay.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

27. Children feel heard, and their voices are consistently prioritised. Their wishes and feelings influence decisions about the homes they live in, arrangements to spend time with family and friends and long-term plans. Children’s records contain trauma-informed, careful language. Practitioners, informed by the local authority’s chosen model of practice, are relational, responsive and committed to helping children thrive. Children know how to make a complaint if needed.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

28. Leaders have clear oversight of children requiring permanent homes through a combination of permanence tracking meetings and permanence planning meetings, with senior leader oversight to support effective planning. Permanence for children is achieved in a very timely manner in placements that comprehensively meet their needs. Children who are looked after and placed at home with their parents benefit from the careful consideration and agreement of senior leaders following thorough assessment. A very small number of these children do not consistently have clearly recorded permanence plans to provide clarity and understanding for them.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

29. Disabled children who are looked after are supported by committed practitioners who understand the complexities of their needs. Assessments of disabled children are completed thoroughly and include robust risk assessment of factors that impact on disabled children’s safety and wellbeing, ensuring their unique needs, vulnerabilities and strengths are fully understood.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

30. Children placed with relatives experience continuity of relationships, cultural identity and stability. Kinship care arrangements are thoroughly supported with embedded joined-up working between the kinship and social work teams. Wider family networks have the opportunity to carefully consider family plans through family meetings. A significant number of children have their needs very well met through the provision of kinship care arrangements.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

31. Managers demonstrate good oversight of the fostering service and are ambitious for the service and their support to foster carers. Foster carers are equipped with the skills to understand and respond to children’s experiences through therapeutic and trauma-informed approaches, helping children to feel safe and secure, building trusting relationships and making progress. Children benefit from well-informed and timely decisions about their care, as thorough and analytical assessments support strong matching and promote stability. Ongoing development of the fostering service’s capacity to meet a wide range of needs means children can remain in stable placements that meet their needs. Kinship carers receive tailored training and practical support, enabling children to remain within family networks when appropriate, strengthening their sense of identity, belonging and overall wellbeing.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

32. Children benefit from a focus on early permanence to provide them with stability at the earliest opportunity. Adoption practice demonstrates strong Inspection of Wandsworth local authority children’s services 2 to 6 March 2026 commitment to securing permanent homes for children when this is the most appropriate plan. Children’s cultural heritage, identity and emotional needs are carefully considered when seeking suitable prospective adopters. Prospective adopters receive preparation and therapeutic support to help them understand children’s experiences and support successful transitions.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

33. Unregistered children’s homes are very rarely used and, when they are, this is a last resort and with the agreement of senior leaders. When unregistered provision is used, additional visits from practitioners and oversight by leaders are in place, in recognition of the significant vulnerabilities of these children, and to ensure that their safety and wellbeing remain a priority.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

34. Children’s health needs are captured in health assessments that are robust and make clear recommendations, with follow-up of actions in assessments and reviews. The timeliness of health assessments has improved over the last year, but for some children in care, initial and review health assessments are completed outside of timescales that match their needs. Senior leaders are earnest in their ongoing discussions with partners to address this delay.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

35. Life-story work is very strong and ongoing, capturing key moments in a child’s journey from birth to transitioning to their forever families. Information is presented in a way that will help children to understand why decisions were made about their long-term care. Practitioners talk sensitively to children about their experiences and use a wide selection of photos of important people in a child’s early life, including birth parents, extended birth family members and former foster carers, which provides an important record of children’s early lives.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

36. Educational outcomes for children who are looked after are a significant strength. Children are making clear progress in their attendance and their educational attainment. The virtual school works closely with social workers, carers and education providers to ensure that children receive the support they need to succeed. Personal education plans are detailed and ambitious, with targets that encourage children to reach their full potential.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

37. Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children receive exceedingly strong and timely support. Practitioners demonstrate sensitivity to the loss and trauma these children have experienced and help them access education, health services and legal advice. These children benefit from stable homes and positive relationships with professionals who support them to build new lives. Children access services specific to their asylum experience via support from the South London Refugee Association, which responds to both practical needs and emotional wellbeing. Pathway plans are detailed and reflective, and there is a strong system of support for these children, alongside timely and purposeful life-story work.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

38. Children are enthusiastically encouraged to pursue hobbies and interests that support their personal development and sense of identity. Many children Inspection of Wandsworth local authority children’s services 2 to 6 March 2026 participate in sports, arts and community activities and are thoroughly enjoying the full range of activities on offer. Practitioners take pride in celebrating children’s achievements and ensuring that they enjoy positive childhood experiences.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

39. Leaders actively promote the voice of children and young people through strong participation work. Children who are looked after are encouraged to engage with participation services, including Wandsworth Youth Council, the Wandsworth Youth Mayor and Children Living in Care Kouncil (CLICK), providing a platform to influence decisions and represent their peers.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

40. Care leavers receive highly supportive and relational services that help them move successfully into adulthood. Personal advisers (PAs) know their young people very well and undertake engagement that is both reflective and task focused. PAs maintain consistent relationships that often continue for many years through visits, messages and phone calls. Practitioners demonstrate genuine care and commitment to supporting young people to achieve their goals and overcome challenges.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

41. There is a strong commitment to supporting care leavers and ensuring that they progress towards independence at the right pace. Many PAs have worked in the service for a long time, and so care leavers benefit from long and enduring relationships with their workers. PAs work persistently to engage care leavers, building rapport and trust so that the young people are willing and able to accept the advice and support on offer.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

42. The Future First team for care leavers provides a seamless transition for children in care, with PAs supporting a combination of children, alongside their social workers, and young people who are aged 18 and over. Therefore, children benefit from forming early relationships with their PAs. Joint supervision between the PA, social worker and their respective managers ensures that communication is clear and responsibilities for tasks are defined.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

43. Care leavers have pathway plans that are up to date and explicitly capture their voices and aspirations. Pathway plans are comprehensive and developed collaboratively with young people. Young people understand their plans and are involved in shaping them. Care leavers approaching the age of 21 can choose to continue to have PA support with a pathway plan. After the age of 21, pathway plans focus on individual needs until these are met and ongoing support needs, which are discussed with each care leaver. Care leavers who opt out of PA support receive annual contact, inviting them to seek support if needed. Care leavers value the consistency of their relationships with PAs and feel reassured knowing that support continues to remain available after they reach adulthood. Inspection of Wandsworth local authority children’s services 2 to 6 March 2026 44. Care leavers are clear about their entitlements. They benefit from a

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

comprehensive and generous local offer that explains the support available to them. The local offer for care leavers is available in a handy booklet that is written in clear age-appropriate language, which makes it easy to understand. In addition, a clear and concise finance policy is attached to pathway plans, providing transparency. As a result, young people are aware of financial entitlements and consistently receive financial help when they need it. The local offer also signposts care leavers to the Care Leaver Influencers group and the participation group ‘CLICKPLUS’. The consistent engagement and feedback from care leavers is used to shape and influence service design and allows young people to work in partnership with children’s services.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

45. Care leavers report that they are confident in seeking help when needed and often use the Falcon Grove leaving care hub facilities. Falcon Grove offers a welcoming environment where young people can access advice, practical resources and social activities. Group events, training opportunities and celebrations help young people build friendships and confidence. Care leavers are fully supported by a wide range of resources affiliated with the service to ensure that most young people feel safe, have suitable accommodation and are achieving good outcomes.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

46. The housing offer for care leavers is very strong, supported by a well-resourced Future House team. Most young people live in suitable homes and are assisted to move gradually towards independence through well-planned housing pathways. Young people are also helped to develop the practical skills required for independent living. Care leavers are supported to be ready to take on a tenancy through a skills programme. If needed, care leavers receive additional support to prevent homelessness.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

47. Care leavers receive mental health support from a specialist mental health PA, providing consistent advice and promoting emotional wellbeing. The well- resourced transitions service responds quickly to Care Act referrals, completing assessments promptly. This is having a significantly positive impact for care leavers with emotional and mental health needs.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

48. There is strong, culturally sensitive support for former unaccompanied asylum- seeking children from the Future First Team. Care leavers receive help with asylum applications, staying connected with family and accessing suitable accommodation based on independence needs. They also benefit from facilities at Falcon Grove, and some recently joined Iftar events there during Ramadan.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

49. Most care leavers who are vulnerable to exploitation have updated risk assessments and access to support, therapy and safety plans, with strong management oversight. For a very small number of care leavers, PAs have not fully considered the full range of risk around exploitation to identify additional support they may need to further increase their safety. Inspection of Wandsworth local authority children’s services 2 to 6 March 2026 50. Care leavers who are also parents receive dedicated support from the parenting specialist PA, who works closely with the allocated social workers for their children. The parenting PA provides targeted support, including help with understanding child development, liaising with professionals for care leavers and their children and accessing suitable housing. Pathway plans reflect each young person’s identity as both a parent and a care leaver. Lifelong Links strengthens support networks by reconnecting young people with important

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

adults, including specific work with care leavers who are parents.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

51. Care leavers in custody receive good support from their PAs. Care leavers have PAs who visit regularly and maintain meaningful relationships with them. PAs ensure that they have access to education and employment and sufficient preparations are made for release. Risk assessments are regularly updated, and care leavers receive meaningful support when released from custody.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

52. The support for care leavers with education, employment and training (EET) is very strong. Dedicated EET advisers help young people access apprenticeships, including within the council, and further education and employment opportunities. Financial assistance and mentoring programmes support care leavers to pursue their ambitions.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

53. Inspectors met with an enthusiastic group of care leavers. They said they enjoy the activities arranged for them, including an overnight residential trip near the seaside. Care leavers spoke in very positive terms about their PAs, describing them as caring, accessible and willing to go the extra mile.

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families: outstanding

54. Leadership across children’s services is highly effective and provides a strong foundation for outstanding practice. Corporate leaders and elected members share an unwavering commitment to improving the quality of service provided to children and their families. Corporate parenting responsibilities are understood and owned at a political level, and the inclusion of care leavers in service development and their attendance at corporate parenting board is valued and used to inform change.

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families: outstanding

55. There is continued investment and commitment to children’s services, with very strong political and corporate support. Children’s social care is firmly embedded in the council’s strategic priorities. Senior leaders provide clear and purposeful direction, and the strategic vision is well communicated and shared across the organisation and with partner agencies.

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families: outstanding

56. Governance arrangements are strong, coherent and well aligned around improvement. The child-focused executive director of children’s services and her stable and aspirational leadership team have a determined ambition to provide outstanding services, and experienced leaders have prioritised children’s needs with a focus on the safety, wellbeing and progress of Inspection of Wandsworth local authority children’s services 2 to 6 March 2026 vulnerable children. This is a shared vision among senior leaders and elected members, who maintain a clear line of sight to frontline practice with robust scrutiny from the independent scrutineer.

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families: outstanding

57. Leaders have successfully focused on areas for improvement since the last inspection in November 2022, as well as using comprehensive self-evaluation to set priorities and further strengthen the service. The self-evaluation is honest and insightful, accurately identifying both the substantial progress achieved and the areas that require further development.

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families: outstanding

58. Leaders provide a solid organisational learning culture and maintain strong oversight of practice through a practice assurance framework that is comprehensive and supports accountability at all levels. Dip sampling, learning episodes and performance monitoring provide leaders with a detailed understanding of frontline practice. There is openness to challenge, and leaders use learning from practice assurance activity to strengthen systems, identify strengths and improve consistency. Consequently, leaders are better able to address limitations in practice and support practitioners to provide children with more consistent, timely and purposeful help.

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families: outstanding

59. Inspiring leadership has created significant improvement, and leaders know the service well, informed by a data and intelligence-led approach. The authority has invested significant effort in strengthening its response to neglect. Leaders have developed strategies, training programmes and partnership arrangements that support practitioners to recognise patterns of neglect and intervene decisively. Recent practice demonstrates growing confidence in identifying neglect and escalating cases when children’s needs are not being met.

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families: outstanding

60. Strategic partnership working across the borough is skilful, effective and embedded and contributes to both strategic and operational improvements. Leaders collaborate closely with health, education, police, housing and voluntary organisations to ensure that services are coordinated and responsive to children’s needs.

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families: outstanding

61. Workforce stability is a notable strength. Leaders have invested in recruitment, retention and professional development, creating a stable environment where highly effective practitioners feel valued and supported. This stability enables children to experience consistent relationships with practitioners who know them well. Practitioners describe a positive and supportive working culture. Leaders are visible and approachable, and staff feel confident raising concerns or discussing complex cases. There is collaboration between managers and staff, and an increase in staff accessing learning and development opportunities has helped improve both confidence and practice quality. Reflective supervision provides practitioners with opportunities to analyse their work and develop their professional skills. This improved and robust supervision means practitioners are well supported with their reflection and decision-making.

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families: outstanding

Inspection of Wandsworth local authority children’s services 2 to 6 March 2026 62. The children’s social care academy and principal social worker play key roles in promoting good practice. The social care academy provides high-quality training and development opportunities for staff at all stages of their careers. Newly qualified social workers receive structured support that enables them to build impressive confidence and develop strong practice foundations. A comprehensive workforce development programme shows a commitment to creating the conditions for good practice to flourish.

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families: outstanding

63. The practice model provides a coherent relational approach that is integral to work with children and families, supporting a culture rooted in reflection and empathy. Practitioners and managers understand and apply this model consistently, which supports strengths-based practice and builds meaningful relationships with families. Systemic practice is fully embedded and appreciated by the workforce.

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families: outstanding

64. Leaders have an exceptionally strong focus on difference. The local authority’s focus on anti-racist practice is both reflective and bold. It sets a positive tone and reflects and celebrates the diversity of the community and workforce, helping to promote a culture of respect and belonging. Significant work in this area is helping leaders to better understand the levels of disproportionality across the service and the systemic and structural impact on the lived experiences of global majority children and families. The commitment to anti- racist practice is unwavering and consistent and aligns firmly with the leadership mantra ‘better never stops’. Inspection of Wandsworth local authority children’s services 2 to 6 March 2026 regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family

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families: outstanding

Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk . This report is available at https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/ .

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families: outstanding

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families: outstanding

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